He specialized in Romance languages, particularly Occitan, and studied the lyrics of the troubadours.

He was instrumental in formalizing the term Occitan for the language of Provence.

He founded the Societat d'Estudis Occitans (SEO) in Toulouse, a predecessor of the Institut d'Estudis Occitans.

Joseph Anglade became a college and faculty professor in Toulouse where he taught southern languages and literature.

He published numerous works on Occitan, the troubadours, and their history, including a grammar of the Old Provençal, and founded a Southern Resource Center (Institute of Southern Studies), of which the Occitan and Southern Resource Center is today the heir.